Forecast

A Parade Of Snowy Systems Will Continue To Bring Snow, Wind And Extreme Cold Across The East Through The Weekend

Multiple systems are pushing across the Northern Tier of the country through the weekend, bringing heavy snow to the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and Northeast.

Light Snow Possible For I-95 Cities?

Winter’s snow machine continues for the Northeast and Great Lakes through the weekend as a series of systems pulls across the region.

Not only snow, but Arctic air will surge southward as well, causing temperatures to dive across the eastern half of the country. This, along with strong winds, will create dangerous wind chills for millions.

New Round Incoming: Through Saturday

Lighter snow will dwindle in New England early Friday while the next round of snow arrives in the Midwest and Great Lakes. Many of the same areas that saw snow from the first system will receive snow from this one, adding to those snow totals and the potential for more pileups.

The first system brought bands of snow that produced multiple pileups from northern Indiana to central New York on Wednesday and Thursday. Similar conditions will come with the second system.

This system will make its way to the Northeast and New England late Friday, into Saturday. We could see some snow fall across the I-95 corridor beginning early Saturday morning, which could make for messy driving conditions and possible airport delays. However, the models don't agree yet on how much snow, if any, will accumulate.

Confidence is high that temperatures will tumble. Highs on Thursday will be in the teens across the Great Lakes, 20s for the Ohio Valley and not even getting out of the 30s for portions of the Southeast.

Not only will temperatures plummet, but strong winds behind the cold front will send wind chills to dangerous levels for some locations. We could be talking about wind chills as low as 20-35 degrees below zero for portions of the Northern Plains. Even places like Pittsburgh and New York will experience wind chills in the teens and single digits.

Next Round: Sunday

Mother Nature isn’t finished yet! Towards the end of the weekend, a pair of systems will once again reinforce those chilly temperatures and bring another round of fresh snow for yet again, the Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast.

One of the systems, like the first two, will pivot from central Canada across the Great Lakes and back into eastern Canada on Sunday and Monday. It will bring generally lighter totals outside of the favored snowbelts around the Great Lakes. South and east of Lakes Superior, Michigan and Erie, snowfall totals may be in the neighborhood of 10 inches locally.

The other system may come from the Southeast, then develop into a coastal low just off the East Coast. It could bring snow and wind to the I-95 corridor, but this chance is low.

Models continue to tease the possibility of accumulating snow for portions of the South, but the chances have begun to diminish across the board.

(MORE: Southern Snow Threat Ahead?)

Putting It All Together

When it’s all said and done, some areas across the Great Lakes could pick up as much as 18 inches of snow for the week, with more widespread areas seeing at least a foot.

The higher elevations of the Appalachians could also pick up more than a foot of snow in some places.

Continue to check back often for updates as we head into the weekend.

Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.